Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Osbourne (b. Sharon Rachel Arden in London October 9, 1952) is a British music promoter as well as the wife and manager of famous singer Ozzy Osbourne, and the mother of Aimee Osbourne, Jack Osbourne, and Kelly Osbourne. The daughter of rock and roll entrepreneur Don Arden and his wife Hope, she met Ozzy Osbourne at age 17 while working as a receptionist for her father, who was the manager of Ozzy's band Black Sabbath.
Family Ties
When Ozzy was fired from Black Sabbath, Sharon took over his management. They were married in Maui, Hawaii on July 4 1982. Sharon and Ozzy bought out Ozzy's contract from her father in that year for GBP 1.5 million, a move that tarnished her relationship with her father for nearly 20 years. Sharon was so estranged from her parents that when her mother died in 1998 she had not met her grandchildren, and Sharon did not attend the funeral. However, Sharon and her father were reconciled in 2001 after Sharon had glimpsed him on a Los Angeles Street.
As a Manager
As Ozzy's manager, she guided him through a wildly successful solo career after he was kicked out of Black Sabbath in 1979. In 1996 she created the successful Ozzfest summer touring festival. She has also managed such bands as The Smashing Pumpkins and Coal Chamber. In 2000 she made news by severing her relationship with The Smashing Pumpkins and then announcing in a statement: "...I must resign due to medical reasons... Billy Corgan was making me sick!"
Fame
Osbourne gained celebrity herself as one of the stars of MTV's reality show, The Osbournes, about her family's daily life. As the person who negotiated with MTV to tape the show, she is often credited with her husband's resurgence in pop culture. The show began airing in early 2002, and when, in July 2002 Osbourne was diagnosed with colon cancer, she insisted filming continue. Later, she announced her cancer has spread to her lymph nodes and was more serious than originally thought. She overcame her battle with cancer against a 33% survival prognosis. Since then, she has founded the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at Cedars Sinai Hospital. The final episode of the show aired in the US on March 21, 2005. MTV's British affiliate, has been airing the show since 2003.
Talk Show
In 2003 Osbourne became the host of her own television talk show, The Sharon Osbourne Show. The show was meant to be a reflection of Sharon's personality and her home life, much like what one sees when watching her reality show, but with the inclusion of guest interviews and performances. However, it was never very successful in ratings and critics panned her inability to do very basic talk show host tasks like read cue cards or conduct interesting interviews. Eventually the show's format changed to one that was extremely standard and not at all what Osbourne had wanted for her show. A sequence on her reality show found her struggling to book any noteworthy celebrity guests because their agents did not feel an appearance on the show would be of any use. The show was cancelled in early 2004.
Trivia
At a charity auction, Osborne bid on and won the opportunity to guest star in an episode of the NBC comedy Will & Grace. She played a bartender in a spring 2004 episode.
In October 2004, Osbourne announced that she and husband Ozzy would be teaming up for yet another MTV show entitled "Battle for Ozzfest", in which a group of unsigned bands battle it out for a spot on the 2005 Ozzfest tour. In December 2004 Osbourne made the public announcement that she is battling bulimia.
In January 2005 she was selected to feature in advertising for the United Kingdom supermarket chain ASDA. She is also one of the judges on the British TV talent show The X-Factor.
Sharon and The Insane Clown Posse
In 1999, Sharon managed a band called Coal Chamber which was touring with The Insane Clown Posse. The Insane Clown Posse dropped Coal Chamber because they weren't pulling in enough money and Coal Chamber's sound wasn't Juggalo material. Sharon then went onto The Howard Stern Show in November 1999. After several minutes of brutal arguing, Sharon bet the Insane Clown Posse $50,000 that their next album would not sell more than 200,000 units, and that they will be dropped from their label. Unfortunately for Sharon, the Insane Clown Posse's next album, which was a dual release, Bizzar and Bizaar, sold over 200,000 each. Yet, Sharon did not pull through with her bet, and to this day, Insane Clown Posse wait for the $50,000 that they planned to donate to charity. However, Insane Clown Posse upped the ante to 500,000 records, so they fell short of what they said they would reach.
The Conflict with Iron Maiden at Ozzfest 2005
- On August 20th 2005, the band Iron Maiden played their last Ozzfest show of 2005 in San Bernardino, California. A series of negative events occured during that performance, beggining with attendees in the V.I.P. section pelting the band with eggs, garbage, and other debris. Festival Crew and people who attended the event also described that someone played a tape of somebody chanting 'Ozzy! Ozzy! Ozzy!'as people at the event chanted 'Maiden! Maiden! Maiden!' to counter the attack. It was also reported that the sound system was intentionally turned off about 5 times in the middle of the band's performance. Sharon Osbourne admits to planning these attacks on Iron Maiden in retaliation against Bruce Dickinson's statements about the Osbourne family's reality show on MTV.
- As Iron Maiden began to play the song "The Trooper" a man believed to be Big Dave, a famous Black Label Society road crew assistant and guest on Sharon's reality T.V. show "Battle for Ozzfest" came upon the stage and waved a disproportionate american flag, mocking Bruce Dickinson's usual activity of waving the Union Jack during this song. Despite all of the happenings, Iron Maiden played out the entire show with an additional encore. Despite Bruce's leading the band to finish the perfomance with the band, Sharon did command the stage to make a few statements. She complimented the band, however she reportedly dubbed Dickinson as a prick and claimed that he ruined the entire Ozzfest tour.